Development of propulsion engines operating on continuous and pulse detonations is a subject of growing interest worldwide. The concept of a detonation engine is attractive for simplicity, easy scaling, reduced fuel consumption, and intrinsic capability of operation from zero approach stream velocity to high supersonic flight speeds. In the detonation-based power plants, detonation is initiated in a tube that serves as the combustor. The propagating detonation wave rapidly burns the fuel in the chamber resulting in a nearly constant-volume heat addition process that produces a high pressure in the combustor and provides the thrust. The operational cycle of such power plants provides a higher thermodynamic efficiency as compared to the Brayton cycle used in gas turbines and ramjets.

The book contains more than 50 revised and edited condensed papers on confined gaseous and spray deflagrations and detonations and their applications to pulse-detonation propulsion written by international experts in detonation physics, chemistry, and propulsion from 9 countries. The contributions are presented in three sections:

This book contains more than 200 revised, edited, and formatted abstracts of papers written by international experts from 20 countries on combustion, detonation, and explosion science. The book provides a quick overview of the state-of-the-art in these disciplines. The contributions were presented in six parts: